The next two films in Network's ongoing 'The British Film' collection have been announced today: Forbidden, a dark and powerful post war thriller from 1949 starring Douglass Montgomery; and The Drum , a Technicolor adventure starring Sabu and Roger Livesey and part of Zoltan Korda's 'Empire Trilogy'.

Forbidden (1949)

Driven by the incessant demands of his unfaithful, luxury-addicted wife, analytical chemist Jim Harding sacrifices a brilliant but poorly paid career to sell patent medicines at a Blackpool fairground. While there he finds he has a chance at happiness – until his vindictive harpy of a wife crushes it flat. At the end of his tether, Jim decides that there's only one way out – his wife has to die...

A dark and powerful post-war thriller, Forbidden features a compelling performance by MGM star Douglass Montgomery (Little Women, Waterloo Bridge) as an unhappily married scientist who finds solace in the arms of another woman – with devastating consequences.

Also starring Patricia Burke (Lisbon Story) and future horror icon Hazel Court (The Curse of Frankenstein), Forbidden is made available here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements, in its original theatrical aspect ratio. An alternative version – entitled Scarlet Heaven – containing additional scenes and voice-overs from Douglass Montgomery is included as a special feature.

Forbidden will be released on UK DVD on 21st March 2016 at the RRP of £9.99, courtesy of Network’s ‘The British Film’ collection.

Special features:

Alternative version, Scarlet Heaven

Image gallery

The Drum (1938)

An unabashed celebration of the British Raj, The Drum made a star of Sabu (Jungle Book, The Thief of Bagdad), the young Indian actor who was to become a firm favourite in both British and American films over the coming decade.

Also starring Roger Livesey (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) as an Army captain working undercover to monitor arms smuggling and featuring a brilliantly malevolent performance from Oscar nominee Raymond Massey (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) as a murderous royal usurper intent on fomenting rebellion, The Drum is featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements, in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Alongside Sanders of the River and The Four Feathers, this rip-roaring Technicolor adventure completes what became known as Korda's 'Empire trilogy', made by London Films in the late 1930s.

The Drum will be released on UK DVD on 21st March 2016 at the RRP of £9.99, courtesy of Network’s ‘The British Film’ collection.